Pfadfinder Jun 2, 2014:

+1 Evgeny, exactly. Don`t take a dogmatic approach to anything.
Right understanding is always context-dependent. As for dictionaries, they didn`t fall from the sky, they were written by people like you and I, in the way we do it here)))
Of course some of them are old and classic, and more trustworthy, in that era people had time to do quality work.

Evgeny Artemov (X) Jun 2, 2014:

Thanks, David, but, between you, me and the lamp-post, being a native speaker matters little. :-) <br>
As for Multitran ... Trust me, use in only as a thesaurus. Over 14 years of using it (inclinding more than 8 years of cleaning it, as a moderator, of dung "contributors" enter there), I don't trust a word in there. :-) I estimate that 3/4 of what's in there is strictly context-specific. <br>
The flip-side of MT is that all such contributions flip, I mean, if you enter an English-Russian pair of words/expressions, you get also a mirrored Russian-English pair, which may be absolutely wrong in any other context.<br>

As for в счёт, this means primarily "toward(s)/in [(re)payment/discharge of a debt/obligation etc.]" That's why I googled this with an asterisk between "в счёт" * "задолженности" and got hundreds of hits with what I expected -- "погашение".

David Knowles Jun 2, 2014:

To Evgeny I'm not sure about в счет vs за счет - as a native speaker, you know best! But Multitran has "on account of" or "by way of" for в счет and this seems appropriate to me.
As for за счет, it seems to mean two opposite things: "at the expense of" and "for the benefit of", which I find confusing, but I've got used to!
David

Pfadfinder Jun 2, 2014:

Ну да... и в чем же профит... с 2000 года... Единственно верный вариант, аскеру спросить заказчика, о чем здесь речь... имхо)))

Evgeny Artemov (X) Jun 2, 2014:

My wild guess: Строительство финансируется В СЧЁТ ПОГАШЕНИЯ задолженности по бюджетной ссуде. Вот ЭТОГО добра в сети навалом.

Pfadfinder Jun 2, 2014:

As you say. But in russian expression "финансируется в счет задолженности" is quite unusual. It must be "финансируется ЗА СЧЕТ задолженности". There is a lot of uncertainty about "задолженность" itself; and even though it can be a common practice in UK/US, it is not so common in RU and therefore demands some explanation. My guess is "задолженность" here means outstanding receivables, but it is only my guess.

David Knowles Jun 2, 2014:

I agree it's ambiguous But it's a common term in UK/US finance. There are a lot of different ways of financing through debt, but they all involve the purchaser (investor) buying an asset (a football club say) for a lot of money, but getting much of it back by loading the club with debt. This was done in the purchase of Manchester United! The Glazer family bought the club but arranged the purchase in such a way that MU has to make large interest payments every year.
Another way is to sell and lease back assets.
David

Evgeny Artemov (X) Jun 2, 2014:

Cкорее первое. Или одно из двух. (с)
(Т.е. и то, и другое.)

Pfadfinder Jun 2, 2014:

Мне кажется, дело не в пропущенном слове. Вариант 1, автор упустил этот момент, предполагая его общепонятным))), вариант 2, эта задолженность уже упоминалась ранее по тексту.

Evgeny Artemov (X) Jun 2, 2014:

Верно. Там засада в виде пропущенного слова существенного слова. ;-)

Pfadfinder Jun 2, 2014:

Аналогичный вопрос неплохо было бы задать насчет задолженности.

Evgeny Artemov (X) Jun 1, 2014:

@David, Oleg & Pjer Gentlemen, what do you think 'debt' means in this financing context? Specifically, who owes it to whom?
(Just asking.)
TIA